Was not she then, also, the daughter
of a king? Yet how different and how unimportant beside that wonderful
woman of whom he spoke! For father she boasted the great chief Torquam,
feared by every tribe in the north and rich because of the gold hidden
in many a canyon among the distant mountains; yet her woman's instinct
told her that to this proud Englishman her people were at best little
more than a curiosity, almost, indeed, a cause for laughter.
When at last the feast was finished, Torquam rose, and removing with
slow solemnity his crest of eagle feathers, he placed it upon the head
of Sir Francis, a seal of everlasting friendship. With difficulty young
Harold suppressed a smile. But the older man, as well aware of what the
situation demanded as he was keenly alive to its danger, received the
attention with a gravity fully equal to that of his host. Indeed, he
went still further.
"Most gracious hast thou been, oh Torquam, all wise chief of the
Mariposa," he began in carefully chosen Spanish, "nor shall thy kingly
gift remain unrequited. Listen, oh Torquam! On yonder vessel I carry
steeds like those of which I told you. For a journey over the mountains
of the north we have brought them. One there is, swifter of foot than
all the rest.
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